A Witchly Influence

by Stephanie Grey

  Hi, Mom!” I exclaimed.

  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you scared the hell out of me!” Evelyn Cleary, my mother, leaned down to pick up the tongs she had dropped. She swirled her hand over them and they were clean again. She was still holding them as she hugged me. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there on the day you got divorced, sweetie, but I got the impression you’d want to be alone.”

  “It’s all right, Mom.” I quickly recounted what happened, including my new position with Fate. I knew I was breaking a rule by telling her, but my mother was an excellent secret-keeper. She had been a spy before I was born, but that was the extent of my knowledge on that because, as she had said, it had been top secret work. There was a piece of the Berlin Wall in a shadow box on display inside her home, though she never admitted that was what the object really was. I had stumbled upon its true origins when I was a teenager at a museum and realized one of the blocks of broken wall on display had a piece where my mother’s keepsake would have fit perfectly. I never asked her about it, though. She wouldn’t have told me anyway.

  Using her pinky, Mom pushed her light brown hair away from her face, her red mouth a thin line. “That’s quite the promotion. I met one once…” her voice trailed off, a twinkle in her eye.

  “Who was he?”

  Mom’s lips pursed. “I can’t tell you.”

  “It was Dad, wasn’t it? That’s why you know he was one and that’s why you got divorced.”

  She patted my cheek lovingly. “That’s right, dear.” She turned her attention to the large grill in front of her, using the tongs to flip the steaks. “Your father is a great man, but the job came first for him.”

  I looked around at the large backyard where we were standing. The pool was bright blue and inviting, even in December. Mom and Lewis, my stepfather, had made it heated and used it often. They loved to swim when it was cold outside, especially when it snowed. It seldom snowed in New Bern, but they took advantage of it when they could.

  “How do you plan to explain to Lewis why you’re moving here?” my mother asked. She had put the steaks on a plate to rest and was running a scrub brush over the grill to clean it.

  “It would be easier if you just told him what we are.”

  Mom shook her head vigorously. “Oh, no. I told my second husband and went through hell with him. He took advantage of me. That’s why we were only married for a few months.”

  “Lewis isn’t a jackass, though. He’s a good guy. Stop being like a 1960s sitcom and do it already. You’ve been married for twenty years. He loves you for who you are.”

  My mother was biting her bottom lip, thinking. She shook her head again. “No. I’m not ready. It hasn’t hurt him not knowing. I just have to be careful about when I use magic.”

  “You use magic all of the time,” I pointed out.

  “Do you think he really notices that the coupons aren’t from the newspaper? He thinks I scour the magazines and Internet for those.” She smiled mischievously. “He called me a ‘wiz with money.’”

  “A wiz? You have to be a man to be good with finances?” I asked.

  “Carmen, stop.” My mother laughed. “He doesn’t know the difference in terms for us, that one is for female and one is for male.”

  “He would if you told him,” I pushed.

  Mom held the tongs and was pointing at me with them. “I. Am. Not. Saying. A. Word.”

  I held up my hands defensively. “It’s your decision. I’m just trying to make your life a little easier. I didn’t hit thirty-two just by being pretty.”

  The loud rumbling of a truck could be heard in the distance. “Lewis is almost home. You better get out of here. Come back this weekend and we’ll look at places for you to buy. Tell him you were offered the chance to work from home and you chose to move down here. Off you go, now.” She leaned up on her toes to kiss my cheek. “Love you, dear!”

  As Lewis’s truck pulled into the driveway, I snapped my fingers and disappeared.

  The weekend arrived quickly and I found myself sitting in my car, a map spread out in front of me. I was only in my driveway, but I didn’t want to travel for fourteen hours just to have my car for Lewis’s benefit. I needed a place where I could teleport without being seen. I picked out a spot and closed my eyes, concentrating hard.

  The Volvo lurched forward and my eyes flew open, seeing nothing. I was in a garage, which meant I had really overshot myself. I raised my hand and the garage door opened without a sound. There was a golf course in front of me and I could tell by the houses lining the road that I had wound up in my mother’s neighbor’s garage. Carefully, I pulled out the sedan and steered left onto the road. Within a minute, I was back in another driveway, this one belonging to my mother.

  I honked the horn and Mom rushed out of the house as if she hadn’t just seen me a few days prior. “I’m so happy you’re here, sweetie!” she said, throwing her arms around my neck. “Come in, come in. I’ve got dinner ready. I made your favorite!” She turned around, her favorite navy blue apron with the White House crest on it blowing in the wind.

  I followed her up the stairs to the front porch where Lewis was waiting. “Hi, Lewis,” I said, hugging him. I had always thought Lewis to be a great man and was happy that he had married my mother. “I see Mom’s been keeping you busy.” I motioned toward the front yard adorned with reindeer, an inflatable Santa Clause in a helicopter, and several other decorations that would put a department store’s display to shame.

  Lewis inhaled deeply and ran his hand through his short, white hair. “She keeps me occupied all right. I hardly ever get a day off.”

  “I don’t think you could handle just watching the television all day.”

  His ice-blue eyes looked longingly toward the sunset. “A man can dream.”

  Sharing a laugh, we went inside where Mom was waiting for us. She had already set the table, even going so far as to use her “fancy plates” for the occasion.

  “You didn’t have to go to such trouble, Mom,” I said.

  Mom waved her hands dismissively. “It was no trouble at all. I wanted you to feel welcome.” She handed me a plate and ushered me off to the kitchen where she had food set up in stations for us to take. I gave myself a generous helping of her roast and potatoes before sitting down in the dining room. She sat across from me and looked at me expectedly.

  “Your Christmas decorations are beautiful, Mom,” I said before taking a bite of the roast.

  “Thank you, sweetie. Lewis and I spent a lot of time trying to get these up.” She looked at her tree. In the glow from the lights, she looked positively radiant. “I just love going down memory lane when we take out the ornaments.”

  “Yes, and the stories I get to hear year after year never get old,” Lewis said. He caught Mom’s eye and smiled. I knew that he loved hearing her stories. He cleared his throat and added, “How was your drive? Must have left really early this morning. Did you take a vacation day or did you call in sick?”

  “I took a vacation day,” I answered, hating having to lie to my stepdad.

  “Was traffic bad when you hit Raleigh? You had to have hit rush hour.”

  I looked down at my plate. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

  “At least you left early enough to miss morning rush hour in Indianapolis,” Lewis said, piercing a piece of potato.

  “Carmen won’t have to worry about making that drive anymore. Isn’t that right, dear?” Mom looked at me pointedly.

  I cleared my throat. “That’s right.”

  Mom put her hand over her husband’s. “Carmen is transferring here!” she said excitedly.

  “Great. More kids back at home.”

  Mom slapped his arm playfully. “Hush. You know you like having the kids around.”

  “Wait, who else is here besides Finn?” I asked. Lewis had two children from his first marriage, one of whom had never left town. The other, Randy, had moved to Atlanta where he was a safety manager with a wife, a child, and anoth
er on the way. We hardly ever spoke because he was too focused on his burgeoning family.

  “Cecily wanted to be closer to home, somewhere where she felt like she had more support for her and the children,” Lewis answered.

  “You mean she wanted free babysitters and she can get them here where both sets of grandparents live,” I clarified.

  “That’s an excellent translation,” Lewis said, laughing. He shrugged. “The more, the merrier I suppose.”

  Mom nodded. “It’ll be nice having babies around the house. I can bring down your old toys.”

  I groaned. “Mom, no one wants to play with old Barbie dolls and Cabbage Patch kids. They all want something tech these days.”

  Mom shook her head in disagreement. “That’s only because they have been conditioned to think that technology is more fun than the toys that make you use your imagination. They’ll have fun with them,” she said confidently.

  “As long as you call them ‘vintage,’ Cecily won’t mind. Otherwise she’ll think they’re just old toys you’ve kept in hopes that it’d be my own kids playing with them.”

  “It’s all about how you put the spin on things. I’m surprised you never went into marketing.” Lewis took a long drink from his Diet Coke before he set it down on the table. “Where will your new office be?”

  I swallowed my roast, mulling over my answer before replying. “They’re going to let me work from home, actually. All of the permit requests are uploaded and I hardly ever have to speak with people, which works out very well.” It was true that it had been rare that I had spoken with someone regarding a request, but I always set up a meeting and just popped in a predetermined meeting place should one be required.

  “I hope you’ll be able to actually work from home. You get a lot of people who need a change of scenery or just can’t manage to get anything done because they can’t separate their home from their work life,” my mother chided. I looked at her, my eyebrows raised. Was she really fussing at me for a job I wasn’t even going to be doing anymore? Noticing my expression, she set down her fork. “Is anyone ready for dessert?”

  As Mom gathered the plates, Lewis put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “I think you’re very lucky and I’m happy for you. Most work from home jobs are scams where companies just want you to sell crap no one needs.” He nodded. “I’m proud of you and I’m excited you’re going to be living here near us. Your mother misses you.”

  Another puzzled glance at my mother and she ducked her head downward as she set the dirty dishes into the sink. She was really good at acting like a parent whose child lived a few states away whom she hardly got to visit. She’d hate it if I told her it was being deceptive instead of keeping a secret.

  “How long is your company going to give you to find a new place?” Lewis asked.

  I stood up to help Mom with the dessert. I reached over her and pulled down three small plates which she promptly filled with her famous apple pie. “About a week,” I said, really unsure of Fate’s time table for me.

  “A week?” Lewis’s eyebrows were raised in surprise. “That doesn’t seem like a long time. If you’re going to buy a house, escrow itself is usually about thirty days. Renting won’t take as long, but they still do those background checks and make sure you can afford your rent.”

  Mom sat down and I served everyone dessert. Mom’s pie-filled fork hovered in the air as she suggested slowly, “Carmen could stay with us for a little bit.”

  I almost choked on baked apples. I hadn’t lived at home in fourteen years. I had moved out a couple of months after high school graduation and into the dorms at Notre Dame. After graduating from there, I started working in the permit office and purchased a townhouse where I had been living for the last ten years. “That’s awfully nice of you, Mom,” I began.

  “Don’t argue with me.” She sat up straighter in her chair, pleased with herself. “I love having company!”

  “I’m your daughter. I’m not company,” I corrected.

  “That’s too bad that you want to put a label on it because company doesn’t have to help with chores.” She flashed a smile before eating another piece of pie.

  I sighed. Lewis looked at me, his expression sympathetic. “Welcome back home,” he said.

  “We look for houses starting tomorrow,” I declared.

  A few days later, I watched myself fold my hands together and smile pleasantly. “How may I help you?” I asked sweetly.

  I groaned. “This is the android that’s supposed to fool people into thinking it’s really me?”

  Samuel Francisco—his parents had an interesting sense of humor—rushed to the android’s side. “What? No? She’s great!” the technician said defensively. “I spent all weekend tweaking her to act just like you.”

  “Tweaking?” I asked.

  “We keep basic models in the warehouse,” he explained. “We adjust them to look like exact replicas of the people they replace. The personalities require a little bit more of a hands-on approach.” He began to absently stroke the android’s hair.

  “Stop that,” I ordered.

  “I’m just fixing it,” he replied, smoothing the white-blonde hair into place.

  “I know, but it’s weird. Listen, she’s too chipper. I’m never that way.”

  Samuel shook his head. “Yes, you are. When customers visit, you are very pleasant.”

  “Really?” I asked hopefully. “You think so?”

  “No,” he admitted, running his hand through his shock of bright red hair. “Call it a personality upgrade, but management will like it and so will the customers.”

  “Oh,” I said, deflated. “I don’t think she’ll fool Nolan,” I said, speaking of my coworker.

  “Nolan won’t notice, trust me.” Samuel was now adjusting the vertebrae in the back of the android’s neck. The android remained perfectly still, her eyes looking forward at nothing. “You tilt your head a little when you’re skeptical. Now she will, too.” He smiled, satisfied with his work.

  “Nolan is my work buddy. He’ll know.”

  Samuel straightened. “I’m good at my job. Awesome, in fact. No one will be able to tell, I promise. That’s why they have me. It’s a seamless, smooth transition.” He looked at the android and blinked rapidly.

  The android relaxed and stood up. She walked around to the front of the desk and gave me a hug. Her embrace was warm and it was surreal being hugged by myself. “We’ll take care of you, Carmen,” she said assuredly. “I’ll call you if I need you, but trust in Samuel’s work. He’s the best.”

  “You’re programmed to say that,” I pointed out.

  The android tilted her head to the side and I snorted. The technician had been spot on with his observation. “No, I don’t think so,” she finally said.

  Defeated, I grabbed my purse and looked at my office once more. I’d miss it, but I was looking forward to my new career direction. “See you around, Samuel, Carmen,” I said.

  They waved at me in unison.

  My townhouse was still a mess from Friday night’s festivities before my friends and I had gone bar-hopping. I waved my hands and everything returned to its place. I hung up my purse and paced as I waited for the realtor to arrive. I needed to get my townhouse on the market and, as I waited, I realized that potential buyers might not appreciate the colors I had chosen to paint the walls. I roamed from room to room, snapping my fingers and adjusting the paint from bright, vibrant colors that flowed beautifully to varying shades of beige and white. I ran my hand along the floor and the Spanish tile I had previously chosen so carefully rippled and turned into dark brown hardwood.

  The kitchen didn’t match the new décor and I looked over my cabinets and countertops, my hands on my hips. I enjoy a good home improvement as much as anyone, though I thought the new styles were very boring. Regardless, they sold homes and I clapped my hands together twice. The cabinets turned inside out, showing off their new Shaker style. White subway tile raised from the surface and the counter
tops dipped inward, then back out as they became a sparkling white quartz. I wasn’t a fan of how bland everything was, but I hoped the neutrality would help it sell faster.

  With the countertops newly shining, the doorbell rang loudly and I answered it. Patty Ricardo, my realtor, stood on the front porch. Her black suit and coat were coated in snowflakes and she brushed them off quickly before stepping into my home. Her brown eyes were bright and appreciative as she entered. “This is perfect!” she said excitedly. She hung up her coat and walked into the living room. “Look at this floor, how gorgeous!” She reached down with a red-manicured hand and ran her fingers along the wood. “It looks so new! You’ve been here for ten years, you said?”

  “That’s right,” I answered.

  “This will be great if people have kids. This floor seems indestructible.”

  “I’ve recently done some remodeling,” I admitted.

  “Ah,” Patty said knowingly. She looked at the furniture, which had not been changed. “I suspected as much. The styles don’t match, but that’s ok because you’ll have your belongings out before we show it, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mmhmm,” she murmured, doubtful. “Will you have help packing everything?”

  “I will,” I answered, starting to get annoyed with her. Magic was always a great help.

  “Excellent,” she said, walking into the kitchen. “This is right on trend.” She ran her hands over the countertops. “A risky choice with the sparkling countertops, but it comes together beautifully.”

  “Thank you,” I said. She didn’t need to know that I had gotten my ideas from the Home and Garden channel.

  After looking through the rest of the townhouse on her own, she rejoined me downstairs. I waited for her to speak while she perused her notes. “I think this won’t take any time at all to sell, even though you’re putting it up around the holidays.”

  “The holidays?” I asked, puzzled.

  Her red lips parted, surprised. She caught herself quickly and said, “Sure, the holidays. People decorate for Christmas, they want to spend time together with their families. They don’t want to worry about moving this time of year.”